Vodou Relics

VODOU RITUAL OBJECTS

Meet powerful Vodou spirits called Lwa (pronounced luh-WAH), and examine objects produced for, and resulting from, the practice of Haitian Vodou. See how the country’s long history of slavery, oppression, and resistance has shaped Vodou beliefs and symbols, and discover the truth behind many of the myths and misconceptions associated with the religion.

Take a look at just a few of the many fascinating artifacts and artworks featured in Vodou: Sacred Powers of Haiti.

Fighting Spirits

In Vodou, horns are associated with the strength of bulls, not devils. (Devils and demons are never worshipped in Vodou.) For Vodouists, these “fighting spirits” embody the fury of slaves who rose up against and successfully overthrew their oppressors.

In fact, Haiti was the first nation in the western hemisphere to abolish slavery, doing so in 1804. Derogatory misconceptions about Vodou originate in the fear of its power to potentially upend authority.

Adorned with human skulls and other elements, this urn possesses the spirit of an Ibo ancestor. The Ibo people, originally from what is now Nigeria, were particularly fierce in their fight against slavery in Haiti.

Like the Catholic church’s reverence for the relics of saints, Vodouists cherish the remains of their ancestors and of iconic people of the past. Bones enable believers to maintain relationships with the deceased in the spirit realm and help them to keep in touch with the supreme God of all creation.

Vodouists believe that there is only one Gran Mèt (Great Master). However, he can be known only through his many manifestations—the Lwa (spirits). There are hundreds of Lwa. They may have begun life as our ancestors, exceptional individuals, animals, or even elements like thunder or storms.

Therefore, to communicate with the Lwa is to preserve a treasure—our ancestors’ experience and knowledge—and to enter into a communion with the active energies emanating from the Gran Mèt.

The Gede, a family of Lwa (spirits), embody the continuous cycle of dissolution and regeneration. Rulers of cemeteries, they know the paths that connect the world of the dead and that of the living, but they are also some of the funniest and most shocking Lwa.

Part flesh and part skeleton, the figure represented here (Bawon Lakwa/Bawon Simityè—Baron La Croix/Baron Cimetière) clearly expresses the idea that life and death are inseparably linked.

In Haitian Vodou practice, dolls are never stuck with pins—causing harm to another person is against Vodou ethics. This misunderstanding could stem from the Vodou practice of hanging dolls on tree branches to send messages to the spirits of deceased loved ones.

Dolls can also be used as statues representing specific spirits. The doll pictured here represents the spirit of love and luxury known as Erzulie Freda, who likes perfume, beautiful dresses, flirting, jewelry, and sparkling wine.

The Lwa (spirits) are like human beings; their strength must be renewed through the consumption of plants and animals from which they acquire the energies of nature. Each Lwa demands his or her favorite foods and beverages.

Sequin-covered bottles are some of the most common objects used in Vodou rituals. Each bottle has the colors associated with the Lwa receiving the drink offering. Each Lwa has his or her personal preferences, such as wine, champagne, specific types of rum, or soda.

For Vodouists, drums are not merely instruments. The rituals involved in each phase of a drum’s construction fill it with sacred life energy. That is why, in the hands of experienced drummers who know the rhythms associated with each spirit, the drums have the power to draw the Lwa (spirits) into our presence and provoke passion.

During ceremonies, most of which include drums, the oungan and manbo (priests and priestesses) greet the drums, kiss the ground in front of them, and offer them libations.

Vodou temples (ounfò) have flags that represent the spirits (Lwa) served and the specific community that serves them. This glittering flag portrays the Marassa twins, one of the most popular Lwa in Haitian Vodou. Mischievous by nature, they can appear as two or sometimes three children.

People who become possessed by the Marassa Twins exhibit qualities of children—they eat candy and fruit, act playfully, and can quickly turn bossy and temperamental.

When someone is initiated into Vodou, spices, soil from specific locations, leaves, and other materials are assembled in a special pake (packet). This packet is then placed on the initiate’s altar.

Pictured are packets created for people initiated into a Bizango—a type of secret society. Black and red are colors that predominate in many objects used by these societies. Bizango figures also frequently have mirrors integrated into them, because mirrors help connect the human and spirit worlds.

Vodou priests and priestesses have no interest in bringing the dead back to life. Indeed, a basic tenet of Vodou metaphysics is that people remain connected to our world after death, and that death is a part of life. However, the concept of zombie in Haitian Vodou is complex.

The correct term zonbi refers to a person who has lost his or her soul. This soul-less state has a particular horror because it harkens back to the condition of slavery in colonial Haiti. Zombification rituals are very rare and are considered a terrible social punishment.

Fighting Spirits

A highlight of the exhibition are dozens of human-sized figures portraying Lwa (Vodou spirits), all of which are displayed in the open air. Particularly formidable and beautiful are portrayals of “fighting Lwa,” who embody the triumph over slavery and oppression in Haiti.

No longer known as “voodoo,” the religion is written as Vodou (pronounced voh-DOO) by practitioners, scholars, and the United State Library of Congress.

The Fair’s Ferris Wheel

The Fair covered 630 acres, including Chicago’s Jackson Park and the Midway Plaisance—a narrow strip of land designated as an amusement area. The Midway skyline was dominated by the 250-foot Ferris wheel, designed by engineer George Ferris.

The famed wheel may have been an engineering marvel and the largest attraction; but it wasn’t the most groundbreaking innovation at the Fair. New technologies such as alternating current and the electric light bulb—used throughout the grounds at night—made the Fair the largest user of electricity in the 19th century.

Meet the Father of Modern Taxidermy

Among the Fair’s many taxidermy displays, Carl Akeley’s were exceptional. The Museum’s first zoology curator took notice and hired Akeley as Chief Taxidermist. In 1896, during Akeley’s first collecting trip to Africa for the Museum, he had to use his bare hands to kill a leopard that attacked him.

Akeley transformed taxidermy from the practice of stuffing skins with straw to a process that included mounting skins over life-like sculptures. The elephants in the Museum’s main hall are an example of his work.

Herbarium Specimen Sheet

As the Fair closed, esteemed botanist Charles Millspaugh gathered exhibits for the new Museum and became the first botany curator. He immediately went into the field, setting the course for our botany collections.

The stamp seen here on his herbarium sheet—the method botanists use to preserve plants—notes the Columbian Museum of Chicago, a name the Museum possessed only briefly before it opened to the public.

Elmer Riggs & Brachiosaurus Bones

Initially thought to be from a large Brontosaurus, the huge femur (thighbone) in the plaster cast on the left is actually from Brachiosaurus, a dinosaur discovered by Elmer Riggs (center). He declared it the “largest dinosaur ever known.”

In addition to collecting specimens like this one for the Museum after the Fair closed (the Fair displayed no real dinosaur bones), Riggs carried out research that shaped the field of paleontology. He’s credited with removing Brontosaurus, the name given to a misidentified Apatosaurus, from dinosaur vocabulary.

Fighting Spirits

A highlight of the exhibition are dozens of human-sized figures portraying Lwa (Vodou spirits), all of which are displayed in the open air. Particularly formidable and beautiful are portrayals of “fighting Lwa,” who embody the triumph over slavery and oppression in Haiti.

No longer known as “voodoo,” the religion is written as Vodou (pronounced voh-DOO) by practitioners, scholars, and the United State Library of Congress.

Opening Day at The Field Museum

The Field Columbian Museum, known today as The Field Museum, opened in the former Palace of Fine Arts building in Jackson Park on June 2, 1894.

It wasn’t until 1905 that the Museum was organized into the natural history museum you know today. In 1921, the Museum moved from its original location on the fairgrounds to its current location in Chicago’s South Loop.